“But if we wait expectantly for things we have never seen, then we hope with true perseverance and eager anticipation. A similar thing happens when we pray. We are weak and do not know how to pray, so the Spirit steps in and articulates prayers for us with groaning too profound for words. Don’t you know that He who pursues and explores the human heart intimately knows the Spirit’s mind because He pleads to God for His saints to align their lives with the will of God?” Romans 8:25-27 The Voice
Family Dynamics ~ Perspectives Matter
In our family lives we are like the Bible describes as “iron sharpening iron”! We are all so different, made uniquely and shaped with all kinds of giftedness by God. Our personalities are designed to fit the talents God has purposefully made us with. We are a family, yes, but we are all dealing with different life issues in our distinctively different ways. Every person in our family is unique and we have our own set of weaknesses and strengths. God works His miraculous relational power into the heart of our family and weaves us all together so that each piece of the family is needed. Every family member’s strength, supports another family member’s weakness. God is so good at putting us together and we need to yield to that and be willing to experience life through the viewpoint of the other people in our family. We need to practice letting go of our perspective and opening our hearts to someone else’s’ viewpoint, because this is how we best grow together as a family and bind up around us a strong unity of love. We need to guard the heart of our family from arrogance, because pride takes full advantage of weaknesses, where humility ushers in God’s strength.
“No one enjoys feeling weak, whether it is emotionally, spiritually or physically. There is something within the human spirit that wants to resist the thought of weakness. Many times this is nothing more than our human pride at work. Just as weakness carries a great potential for strength, pride carries an equally great potential for defeat.”Author~Charles Stanley
Family Dynamics ~ Family Prayer
God knows the strengths and weaknesses of our family and when we pray, our hearts submissively surrendered to Him, He aligns our family life to His will. This makes prayer a vital part of our family life. We need to pray for each other, we need to pray together, prayer needs to be a part of our living room, our dining table, our good nights. Our family prayer times need to be full of hope, faith and expectation in God, loving Him with our praise and putting all of our hope in Him. We need to encourage a heart of thankfulness at the core of our family life, this helps trump the sting of our weaknesses with the AWE of the strength of our God. When we get weary and worn, and we will, living in times such as these, we need to know that God is the perfect strength for us and He will help us endure and grow through each and every situation our family encounters.
“We can just pour out the fullness of our heart, the burden of our spirit, the sorrow that crushes us, and know that He hears, He loves, He understands, He receives; and He separates from our prayer all that is perfect ignorant and wrong, and presents the rest, with the incense of the great High Priest before the throne on high; and our prayer is heard, accepted and answered in His name.” Author~ A. B. Simpson
Family Dynamics ~ Significance
It is good for us as a family to cling to God, to let Him into every aspect of our family life. Every member of our family should be comfortable with the truth that God alone is the strength of our family. It is in God that our family’s significance rests and He is the core of the strength of our family unity. Our family weaknesses are known and are covered by the strength of Jesus Christ and He never let us go, He is always with us, even in our places of weakness, He does not let go, He grows us through.
Family Dynamics ~ Growing Through
There are times and seasons that weaknesses seem to plaque our family life with stress and strife and these are the times that we must endure, bear with and pray through with great faith, knowing that God is working out the best things for our family and He will prevail. We come to God on behalf of our family, the family He has put together by His divine purpose and we cling to HIM, we dig our life roots deeply in Him and we grow through in the strength, peace and joy of Jesus. We come to Jesus, He makes a way for us not just to get through but to grow through in that excellent way of His that we can’t even begin to imagine or hope for.
“Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30 NKJV
“Every prayer of the Christian, made in faith, according to the will of God, for which God has promised, offered up in the name of Jesus Christ, and under the influence of the Spirit, whether for temporal or for spiritual blessings, is or will be fully answered.” Author ~ L. B. Cowman
Family Dynamics ~ Praying For Our Family
Lord Jesus, I pray for my family today, be our strength, be at the center of our family life. Father God, we open our hearts wide to You, we fully face You, turning away from our circumstances and hoping to trust You in a wholly-holy way. Teach us Holy Spirit how to surrender fully our plans, hopes, dreams and put all our expectations for our family in the hands of Jesus. Lord God Almighty, shelter this family in Your mighty right hand, take captive our hearts and saturate our souls in your unfailing love. Jesus, let it be so. AMEN!
“When we pray for the Spirit’s help … we will simply fall down at the Lord’s feet in our weakness. There we will find the victory and power that comes from His love.” Author~ Andrew Murray
Family Life was written by the author of The Bridegrooms Café, KimberlyMac. I come from a very large family and over the years we have “grown through” many different family dynamics. God bless you MUCH. Please share this with other families, let’s get this word out to them, so they too can be equipped by God with an understanding of their family dynamics. Use your social media to do so with the button below. Please leave a comment to encourage others, share about your family, so others learn and grow in God’s family dynamics. Thank you!